Plant Mix Kills Cancer Cells

A study led by Madhwa Raj, PhD, Research Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and its Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, has found that a super cocktail of six natural compounds in vegetables, fruits, spices and plant roots killed 100% of sample breast cancer cells without toxic side effects on normal cells. The results, which also revealed potential treatment target genes, are published in the November 2013 issue of The Journal of Cancer.

“One of the primary causes of both the recurrence of breast cancer and deaths is a small group of cancer stem cells that evade therapy,” notes Dr. Raj. “These often multi-drug-resistant cells have the ability to generate new tumors, so it is critically important to develop new approaches to more effective and safer treatment or prevention of breast cancer.”

The research team tested ten known protective chemical nutrients found in foods like broccoli, grapes, apples, tofu, and turmeric root (a spice used in Indian curry) before settling upon six – Curcumin known as tumeric, Isoflavone from soybeans, Indo-3-Carbinol from cruciferous plants, C-phycocyanin from spirulina, Reservatrol from grapes, and Quercetin, a flavonoid present in fruits, vegetables, and tea.

The researchers administered these six at bioavailable levels to both breast cancer and control cells. They tested the compounds individually and in combination. They found that the compounds were ineffective individually. When combined, though, the super cocktail suppressed breast cancer cell growth by more than 80%, inhibited migration and invasion, caused cell cycle arrest, and triggered the process leading to cell death resulting in the death of 100% of the breast cancer cells in the sample. The researchers observed no harmful effects on the control cells.

Further analysis also identified several key genes, which could serve as markers to follow the progress of therapy.

Although the cocktail was not tested against BRCA1 and BRAC2, previous studies have shown that they are molecular targets of four of the six compounds. The researchers also earlier demonstrated that two of the compounds synergize effectively to kill ovarian cancer cells.

It’s interesting to note that ALL of the plant nutrients mentioned in this article are contained in the Juice Plus+ products, making Juice Plus+ a super “super cocktail”!

One of the recent clinical studies of Juice Plus+ was conducted on ovarian cancer patients at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. In this study, Juice Plus+ and Juice Plus+ Complete helped bridge the gap between what is consumed and what is needed by ovarian cancer patients, improving their quality of life dramatically. The study was published in the Gynecologic Oncology Journal.

The research team also analyzed data on the recurrence of cancer and the survival rate of the women in the study over a five year period. The results were so positive that they are planning to study the data in more depth, including a control group of women who were not in the study.

In this webinar the lead researcher, Dr. Lovell Jones, explains why his study is so exciting: